


The Reset...

by IndigoBloom



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route - "I want to stay with you."
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-07-23 08:01:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16154930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndigoBloom/pseuds/IndigoBloom
Summary: When a hike goes wrong, Rose didn't expect to be sent to her true home, where monsters live in peace...except for today, when someone returns, and the world turns upside down...





	1. When Flowers Cry...

I plant my foot on the edge of the plateau on the top of Mount Ebott.  “Come on, Emma!” I yell to my friend, who is still twenty yards behind me.

She’s huffing as she climbs.  “Why did we have to climb up here?” She says, “It’s suicide!”

I wave her off dismissively. I then walk a little further, and I sit down onto the ground. I start to rifle through my backpack, and I get out my Tupperware of spaghetti.

“Are you eating?” Emma exclaims, exasperated.

“Absolutely!” I say, mouth half full of spaghetti. I then put the Tupperware away, rinsing the fork with water from a canteen.

“You only ate one fork-full!” Emma says.

“Perfection needs to be savored,” I say, getting a sandwich out for Emma.

She snatches it out of my hand, unwraps the cellophane, and starts to eat. 

“This was  _ your  _ idea, remember?” I say.

She just snorts and nods.

I put my backpack back on. I look around at the summit of the mountain, and I notice that there is a large hole in the middle of the mountain.  “Wowie!” I exclaim to myself. “Emma! There’s a hole!”.  I hear her walking up behind me, and I kneel at the edge, staring into the hole.  “Emma! How deep do you think it is?” I say.

“Let’s find out,” she says, and I feel someone push me. 

I just barely grab onto the ledge of the hole, and Emma is looking down on me.  “Emma! Help me!” I say. I slightly feel like Mufasa. I’m half expecting Emma to say “Long live the king,”

All she does is smile and stomp on one of my hands. 

I drop it, and the other hand can’t hang on, since I recently got it out of a cast, so I fall, screaming “EMMA!!!”.  I hit the bottom, and I’m still awake. The choking feeling of drowning greets me, and I wonder if the bottom of the cave was filled with room temperature water. Then, air rushes back into my lungs, and I realize that I just had the wind knocked out of me.  I remember that my backpack fell off of my back, so I look around in the small chamber I’m in. I find it, and I quickly look through it, in case anything is broken. I heave a sigh of relief when I see nothing is harmed.

_ This place seems familiar… _

As I stand up, I realize that there is the sound of crying in the distance. Well…it’s more of in the next room.  I walk through a hall, to the next room. As I enter, I see a flower, and it’s…crying? There’s no tears, but it’s making sounds like sobbing. I can hear muttering as it cries.

“Why…*sob* it’s not *snif* fair…I just want *snif* help…” It then continues to silently sob.

“I’ll help,” I say as I walk toward it.

It looks at me, at first surprised, but then it turns away from me.

“Yea, right. You keep saying that…” it says.

“‘Keep saying that’?" I ask, "What does that mean?”

“You wouldn’t remember…” it says, “You don’t want to help me,”

I sit there for a bit, and the flower just looks around awkwardly.  “Well, I might as well try,” I finally say.

“Why?”

“I have no reason to go back to the surface,”

It just stares at me.  “Why?”

“Well, I just got betrayed by my ‘friend’," I say, "And the rest of my family is…dead,”

The flower looks at me, more sad than before.  “You’ve…never told me  _ that _ ,”

“What’s your name?” I ask.

He sighs, like I’ve asked this before.  “I’m Flowey,” it says.

“And I’m Rosaline. But everybody calls me-”

“-Rose. I know,” he finishes for me.

I look at him, and raise my eyebrows.

“As I’ve said, you’ve been here before,”

I nod at him, and I search through my backpack. I pull out a large bowl, and I set it on the ground. Don’t ask why I have a large bowl in my backpack.

“Why do you have that?” Flowey asks.

“Well, it’s not a flower pot," I say, "but it will do, I suppose,”

Flowey looks at it suspiciously, but he eventually nods.

I dig the edge of the bowl into the ground, and  I scoop Flowey, roots and all, into the bowl.

“Now what?” he asks.

I just place him onto the top of my backpack, and I bungee cord it, to make it secure.  “Okay,” I say, “Now to move on in our adventure,”.  I put my backpack on, with slight grumble from Flowey, and I head for the other side of the cave. 

When we enter the other cave, it looks like the ornate front of a building. It’s made of some sort of purple stone, and it looks  very old.

“It’s the entrance to the Ruins,” Flowey says to me, craning around my head in order to see. “There’s puzzles in there. Ancient combinations of diversions and door-keys. At least, that’s what m-…Toriel says,”

I nod. I walk toward the gap between the two staircases winding up to the door. In the gap, there is a pile of leaves, and floating above the pile of leaves, there is a golden star.

“You’ve found a checkpoint,” Flowey says, “You can save the reset to start here,”

“What exactly is the ‘reset’?” I ask.

“Umm…have you ever went somewhere and thought, ‘I’ve been here before’?”

“I actually thought that when I saw the first room…”

“Well, that’s the reset,”

“Oh,”

I reach my hand out, half expecting the star to be cold. But it’s not. It’s surprisingly…warm.  As I lightly brush my hand against it, a nearly see-through box shows up in front of me. I see a button on it that says “Save”, and I press it.  I look back up at the ruins, and I feel what I can only describe as…determination.

“I’ll help you with the puzzles,” Flowey says, “and I’ll help if a monster attacks you,”


	2. ...And Cities Crumble.

As I walk into the first room, I see a little path to the right of the room. It has two buttons on it, and four outside the path. There is a switch on the wall in front of it, and a sign next to the switch.

“Go read the sign,” Flowey says, “and try to figure out how to do the puzzle,”

I walk up to it, and I’m surprised to see that it’s not in english.

“What kind of writing is  _ that _ ?” Flowey asks.

“I think those are Wing-dings,” I say, running my fingers across a smiley-face.

“What are those?”

“It’s  a font found on most  computers that displays symbols for character instead of a letter,” I explain, “It’s mainly for Computer Geeks,”

“Do you know how to read it?”

“I do,” I say, “It reads, ‘ Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both not walk the middle road,’. Huh, I wonder what that means,”

Flowey is silent for a little while, but then he says, “Press the buttons, from the end of the path closest to the entrance to the button, but don’t walk down the middle,” 

I do as he says, and then I stop.  “Now what?” I ask.

“Flip the switch,” he says.

I do, and a clicking sound resounds through the room, and the door opens.  I walk through to the next room. It’s a long room with multiple waterways going through it. All of them have bridges over them.

“Well,” Flowey says, “At least the switches are labeled,”

I look around and see that he’s right. There notes and arrows on certain switches along the one wall of the room.  “Well, let’s flip the switches that are labeled,” I say.

“Okay, you do what you want. I don’t have arms,” Flowey grumbles.

I walk down the path in the room, only flipping labeled switches, until I reach the door at the end.

It goes on like this (Flowey helping me figure out puzzles) for a little bit, until I reach a crossroad…of types. It’s more of a room that leads into other rooms.  It has patches of red leaves along the walls and what looks to be a sleeping…or dead…frog monster in the middle of the road.

“It’s a Froggit,” Flowey hisses, “Something’s wrong…”

“How do you know?”

“Because they’re always here to greet you,”

I walk up to the Froggit. It’s about the size of a medium dog, and it’s white with black markings. It’s laying on its face.  I flip it over onto its back.

Froggit is mumbling, its eyes milky white, staring off into nowhere in particular.

I stroke Froggit’s forehead, and I see flashes of me, two children, and almost everything this Froggit has seen, probably from different timelines as well.  Some of it is glitchy, like old videos, but there is some that is clear. Images of another human. I focus on those, trying to straighten out everything in my mind.  I find all of the clear pieces, and I string them together.

\---

_ I’m sitting by the path, in this room, thinking about nothing in particular. Wait, it’s not me. It’s Froggit! I’m Froggit.  _

_ Then, a child passes me. They’re wearing a green and yellow striped sweater.  _

_ I hear them muttering, “Flowey, Frisk, Sans, Papyrus, Gaster, everyone…they all…must…die,”.  _ _ I start to tremble at this, and I start to see the old video memories again. Well, this is the first time Froggit’s seeing them. I start to tremble more, and my vision turns into nothing but the old memories. _

\---

I realize that I closed my eyes, and I’m now holding Froggit in my lap.

“ _ Ribbit _ (Human? Who are you?) _ Ribbit, _ ” Froggit says. Somehow my mind translates when I hear Froggit “ribbit”.

“I’m Rose,” I say.

Froggit hops out of my lap, and stands in front of me.  “ _ Ribbit  _ (Thank you. You saved me from that state. I wish to join you on your quest.)  _ Ribbit, _ ” they say.

“Your welcome,” I say, “and I’m not entirely sure what my quest it yet,”

They look at me questioningly.  “ _ Ribbit _ (You’re an angel from the surface, come to save us at our most dire time)  _ ribbit,” _

I smile at them. They really want to help me.  “Okay, you can come with me,” I say.

Flowey pulls my hair, probably to get my attention.

“What?” I say.

“Another save point,” he says, “but I don’t think they are actually for saving anymore,” 

“What do you mean?” I ask, moving toward it.

“Well seeing Froggit like that, it made me realize what’s actually happening,”

“What’s happening?” I ask.

“Someone who’s not supposed to be alive is here, and that spells trouble,”

I don’t want to ask who, because I already know. It’s that child who I saw in the memory. As they passed, Froggit went into that state.  I walk up to the Checkpoint, and I touch it. As I touch it, I playfully crinkle in the leaves, and it fills me with determination. Determination to make the timeline right again.

Flowey and Froggit help me through the rest of the Ruins. Not all of the monsters in the ruins are catatonic, like a group of Whimsums and a Spider Bake Sale, but I want to wait to save everyone.

We then get to an intersection in the road.

“ _ Ribbit _ (Go to the left,” Froggit says, “That’s the house of Toriel.) _ Ribbit _ ,”

I turn left, but Flowey leans all of his weight, nearly toppling him and me, to the other path.

“What?” I ask.

“There’s something over there,” he says.

I just look, and it looks like a toy sitting in the middle of the road.  “It’s just a toy,” I say, and I march toward a dead tree.

Beyond the dead tree I see a house. It looks newer than all of the other buildings in the Ruins.  It has patches of red leaves in front of it, and floating above one patch is a Checkpoint.  I touch it, and as I look back at the quaint cottage, I’m again filled with Determination.

The door on the Cottage is closed.

“That’s weird,” Flowey mutters, “Toriel usually keeps her door open,”

I lightly push on the door, and it swings open easily. I’m instantly greeted by the light smell of smoke. It’s coming from the left side of the house.  I follow the smell, and It’s coming from the kitchen. I grab a pair of huge oven mitts, open the oven, and I take out a huge pie. I have to use two hands.  The pie smells delicious, like a combination of chai-tea and brown sugar.  I place it on a wrack on the counter, so it can cool.  I go back out to the living room. It has a large armchair in it, a shelf of books, a fireplace, and a large table.  I look at the chair, and I pick a tuft of white hair off of it.

“It’s Toriel’s,” Flowey says.

I look at the fire tools at the fireplace. They’ve been filed down to blunt ends, like they’ve been child-proofed.  _ It’s like she was expecting a child _ , I think to myself.  “The house is silent,” I say, “I don’t think anyone is home,”

Flowey just huddles closer to the back of my head.

I walk to the other side of the house, looking through all the rooms for any sign of other people.

The first room is orangish, and it looks like a child’s room. No one is there.  The second room is blue, and it’s probably Toriel’s room…because there is a Goat Monster laying in the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

“She’s really important to the timeline,” Flowey says, “So, you kind of  _ have _ to save her,”

I set my backpack on the ground, and I take Flowey off of the top. I set him next to her pillow on the bed.  “I…I don’t think I can do this, Flowey,” I say, “I’ve only revived  _ small _ monsters,”

“Well, what’s the difference?” Flowey says.

“She’s actually important, they were just…side characters,”

He just frowns at me.  “You’re scared, aren’t you?” he asks.

I look down at my lap, and nod.

He sighs, “You won’t know until you try,”

I look back up at him. 

He’s staring at Toriel, worried.

I skootch closer to her, put my hand on her forehead, and the memories flood into my head, like a tsunami.  I focus on the clearest memories. The child in green.

\---

_ I’m sitting in the chair by the fireplace, reading a book about snails, when I hear a knock on the door. _ _ “Wonder who that could be,” I mutter. I have to remind myself that I’m actually seeing this through Toriel’s eyes.  _ _ I stand up, and I walk to the door. I open it, and there stands the child in green.  _ _ I can see them a bit better now.  _

_ They have short, neatly cut, light brown hair. I’m not sure what gender they are, but there are ten stripes on their shirt. So, they’re 10. Their eyes are completely red, and it looks like they’re crying tar. They are also holding a knife. _

_ “No,” I say, as I stumble back, “You’re dead,” _

_ “Hello, mother,” the child says, “I’m home,” _

_ I turn my head as I hear a door in the house open.  _

_ Another human child walks into the room, and stops in their tracks. _ _ This child looks about seven years old, and the stripes on their shirt confirms it. 13 pink stripes on a blue sweater. _ _ They grab a stick leaning against the wall and hold it like a sword. _

_ “Frisk!” I scream, “My child! Run!” _

_ They look at me with closed eyes, nod, and rush down the basement stairs. _

_ The first child smirks, walks in, pushes me aside, and as the visions of all of my pasts…I mean, Toriel’s pasts…flood my vision. _ _ The child walks down to the basement, and I stumble to my room, flopping onto the bed before I find I can’t move. _

\---

I open my eyes, and wait. 

Toriel is still motionless. 

I’m starting to get worried, but then she gasps, and sits up. She looks at me curiously.  “I got your pie out of the oven,” I say, grabbing her hand, “How about we go eat some, and I’ll explain there,”

She just stands up, tries to say something, but then she sees Flowey.  “You,” she says, her voice full of hate, “You’re here to corrupt another child, aren’t you?”

Flowey hangs his head, and makes sobbing sounds again, and it might just be my imagination, but I thought I saw tears.  “I’m sorry mo-…eh, Toriel,” he wines, “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. But, I didn’t corrupt Chara. He did that on his own,”

I walk back over to him, and I pick him up in one arm, and grab my bag with my other hand.  “I’m going to help him,” I say to Toriel, her face suspicious, “Even if it means giving up my own soul,”

“Well,” Toriel says, looking me in the eyes, “if you’re going to try to help the rest of the Underground, I think you should leave now,”.  She turns and leaves, and I follow her. She walks into the kitchen.

I follow her, but only until the living room. I stand at the bookshelf, place Flowey on top of it, and I start to thumb through a book written entirely in Wing-Dings.

Toriel steps into the room with a paper-bag.  “It’s a slice of the Butterscotch-cinnamon pie,” she says.

“So that’s what it was!” I exclaim.

She just smiles as she puts the paper bag in my backpack. She then turns to Flowey.  “You better not let anything happen to Rose,” She says to Flowey, “Or you’ll regret it,”

Flowey nods, and says, “Yes, ma'am,”

I grab Flowey, strap him to the top of my bag again, and I head for the basement stairs. Toriel walks with me, until we reach a door in the basement.

“That’s the exit of the ruins,” Toriel says, “Snowden Forest is just beyond, and you’ll eventually find Snowden Town. Frisk will be there…hopefully,”

I turn to Toriel, and I hug her.

She hesitates at first, but then embraces me.

“I’ll find them, Goat-Mom,” I say.

“Goat-Mom?” she giggles.

“Do you mind if I call you that?” I ask.

She smiles, and a tear rolls down her cheek.  “No,” she says, “It’s just…no one has called me ‘mom’ in a while,”

I turn back toward the door, when I hear hopping from the tunnel behind us.

“ _ Ribbit  _ (Wait! Human!)  _ Ribbit! _ ” I hear Froggit call.

“Oh, Froggit!” I say as they stop in front of me, and start to pant.

They have a paper in their mouth, and the nudge me with it.

“You want me to have it?”

They nod.

I take it, and it says “Dr. Alphys” and a phone number on it.

“ _ Ribbit  _ (The Spiders at the Bake Sale wanted you to have it)  _ Ribbit _ ,”

“Thank you,” I say, and I shove it my pocket, “I’ll call them when I get out of the Ruins,”.  I turn back to the door, and I push it open. I walk through a very long hall, to another door, and finally outside. 

We find ourselves in a frozen forest.


	3. When Forests Freeze...

We stand outside the door for a bit, until I start to shiver. I look down at Froggit, and he’s shaking as well.  I take my backpack off, and I start to take the bungee cords off of Flowey.

He is hunched over, head almost to the soil in his bowl, and he’s shaking like crazy.

I place him on Froggit, so he’s not in the snow.  I dig through my backpack and pull out my coat, two hats, a pair of gloves, and three scarfs.  I put on my coat, one hat, a scarf, and the pair of gloves. I wrap another scarf around Froggit’s neck, and put the last hat on his head. I take the last scarf, and I wrap it around Flowey’s stem and leaves.  “And now to call Dr. Alphys,” I say standing up and brushing snow off of my pants.  I pull my phone out, wondering if I have service down here, and I dial the number on the piece of paper Froggit gave me. The phone rings for a bit, until the person picks up.

“He-hello?” the person stutters.

“Is this Dr. Alphys?” I ask.

“Umm…Yes. Who is this?”

“You’re the person who put a camera outside the exit of the Ruins, right?”

There’s a pause.

“H-how d-did you know that?”

“I’m looking right at it,” I say, staring into a bush with a camera tucked into it.  I hear shuffling, and clinking, and then I hear them say “Oh! I see you. You’re a human?”.  I nod at the camera.

“What can I do for you?” Alphys asks.

“Just be my multiple pairs of eyes,” I say, “I want you to contact me when you see another human. A child in a yellow and green striped shirt. Can you do that for me?”

“Uhhmm…” Alphys says, “Sure,”

“Okay, thank you,” I say, and I hang up.  I turn toward Froggit, Flowey, and my backpack. I pick up Flowey, strap him to my backpack, and put my backpack on in such a way as to keep Flowey upright.  “Okay, let’s go through this freezing forest, and find that child,” I say.

Froggit ribbits in agreement, and Flowey just snuggles into the back of my head, and I feel him quivering, even through my hat.

I take my hat off, and I reach back with it and put it on Flowey’s head.

“Flower’s aren’t supposed to be in this cold of weather,” he says, weakly.

“We’ll find a warm place soon, don’t worry,” I say.

He just nods and leans into me again.

We walk through multiple “Rooms” of forest, finding a few checkpoints as we go. We reach a large meadow, and there is a small dog house somewhere in the distance, and a weird shimmer next to the dog house.

_ I’ll get back to that, _ I think.

I look around, and there are small divots in the snow everywhere (like someone was having a snowball fight), and large balls of snow in other places.

“What are those?” I ask, pointing to one of the balls.

“They’re Snow-poffs,” Flowey says.

I just nod, but then I see two figures lying in the snow, face down. One of them is smaller than the other, and is wearing a blue coat. The other is wearing a bright red scarf.

“It’s the brothers,” Flowey says.


	4. ...And Skeletons Walk.

I rush over to the two figures, and I notice that they’re skeletons. I slow down, but Flowey tugs my hair again.

“They’re usually skeletons,” he says.

I slide on my knees in the snow, my pants getting soaked, and I kneel next to the smaller skeleton. He’s wearing a blue hoodie, black shorts with a white stripe down the side, and pink slippers.

“It’s Sans, the older of the two,” Flowey says.

I just nod, and I flip him onto his back. He’s in the same catatonic state that I found Froggit and Toriel. I place my hand on his forehead, and his memories hit me like a wave. He’s been in so many timelines! I find the most recent, and I concentrate.

\---

_ WHAM! _

_ A snowball hits me in the face, knocking me back a little. The cold mush oozes down my face and onto the ground.  _ _ I’m crouched behind the dog house, the side opposite to the shimmer. I’m looking at another skeleton, the one with the red scarf. _

_ He also has red gloves on, red boots, blue shorts, all of them trimmed in gold fabric. He’s crouching behind a snow-poff, but it’s not very good cover. _

_ “Nice shot, Paps!” I yell, speaking in Sans’s voice, “Ya hit me right in the face!” _

_ “Nyeh-heh-heh! Bulls-eye!” Papyrus cheers. I know his name because Sans knows his name. _

_ I chuckle as I form snow around me into a ball, and I wind up to throw. Then Frisk comes running out of the woods, a panicked look on their face. _ _ “Kid!” I yell to them, and they just look at me, probably trying to say, “Help!”.  _ _ “Oh, god…” I whisper, and I drop my snowball. I stand up, and I sprint to Frisk, my fingers tingling. _

_ “Sans?” Papyrus asks, standing up and staring at us, “Why is one of your eyes glowing blue?” _

_ I don’t answer him, and I face down the path toward where Frisk was running from. _

_ Chara, the child in yellow and green, appears out of the trees. Chara? How do I know that? _

_ “You’re not going to get to the kid!” I yell at him, summoning three Gastor-blasters.  _ _ I fire them at Chara, but he dodges them without much effort. _

_ He walks up to me, and as he pushes past, images of my past floods my mind, and I try to hold them back. _

_ “Paps!” I yell, “Run!”.  _ _ All I see are the endless times I’ve killed Frisk when they decided to kill everyone. I collapse into the snow, and fall face first. _

\---

I open my eyes, and sit back on my haunches.  I feel something trickle down my upper lip, and I try to wipe it away with my hand. To my confusion, what I wipe away is a bright red.

“You have a nosebleed,” Flowey says, “It started five minutes after you went into that trance. You’re pushing yourself too hard, Rose. We should take a rest,”

“I’ll rest when Frisk is safe,” I say.

Flowey doesn’t say anything else, and Sans makes a mumbling sound. He gasps and sits upright suddenly.

“Papyrus!” He says as he jumps to his feet, and he stumbles over to where Papyrus lays on his face.

I follow him, and he’s struggling to flip Papyrus onto his back. All the while, tears are somehow streaming down his face. But he’s a skeleton. He can’t cry…right?  I help him get Papyrus onto his back, and we position him in a way that he’s laying on the ground with his head in my lap. Sans holds his hand.

“Can you save him?” Sans asks.

I nod, and I place my hand on the side of Papyrus’s skull.

All of the memories I see are happy, but there are so many of them, I can’t pick out the newer ones.   I concentrate harder, and I find a memory of Chara that coincides with San’s memory. I skip forward to when Sans yells to Papyrus to run.

\---

_ Sans falls to the snow, but Chara keeps advancing toward Frisk.  _

_ I put myself between them, trying to be brave. I hope he doesn’t see me shaking. _ _ “Stop right there, human!” I yell, “Or I’ll have to use my special attack!” _

_ “We both know that’s useless,” Chara says, never stopping his leisurely pace. _

_ I make a low whimper, and I try my best to slow his progress with a barrage of bone-attacks, but it doesn’t seem to even bother him. _

_ Chara is standing right in front of me. _

_ “Move, Papyrus,” he says, looking up at me. Papyrus is really tall! How have I not realized this? _

_ “No,” I manage. _

_ “Now,” he insists. _

_ I shake my head. _

_ He shoves me aside, memories hitting me like a brick in the face. _

_ I fall where I stand. _

\---

I gasp as I let go of Papyrus. My nose bleed starts to get worse. My head is pounding.

“Are you alright?” Sans asks me.

I take out a handkerchief as I stand up, and I wipe my nose with it.  “I’m fine,” I say, but as I stand I feel dizzy, “I just need to keep going,”

“No, you don’t,” Flowey says, “Please, rest…for me,”

I pause at this, but I comply. I sit on the ground in front of the dog-house, setting My backpack beside me. I tilt my head up, trying to stop my nosebleed.  I watch as Papyrus stands up, and Sans explains the whole situation to him. 

Flowey looks at me.  “You need to stop pushing yourself like that,” Flowey says, “Two main monsters in a row? That’s crazy! You need to rest,”

I rest my head on my knees, and I silently cry. I don’t want anyone to worry about me, but my head hurts so bad. I sit here as my tears run down my face, washing away my sins.

“Are you okay…dude?” Sans says to me.

“Yea, I’m fine,” I lie.

“What’s your name?” Sans asks.

“Rose,” I say.

“Okay, well, thanks for saving us,“ Sans says, “Now, I’ve got a kid to kill,” and he starts to walk away, Papyrus slowly trailing behind him.

“You won’t be able to do that on your own,” I call after him, “at least, you won’t be able to survive  _ and _ save Frisk at the same time,”

Sans clenches his fist.  “And how do  _ you _ know?” Sans says, facing me.

“I don’t know how I know, I just…do,” I say, standing up.

He just stares at me.

_ Rose _ , a voice says.

“Yeah?” I say, turning around to face Flowey.

“What?” He asks, staring at me.

“Didn’t you just say my name?” I ask.

_ Rose. _

“Wait…that’s not you,” I say, and I look at the shimmer.

_ Yes,  _ the voice says,  _ I’m here. Help. _

I walk toward the shimmer, until I’m standing right in front of it.

_ Give me your hand,  _ the voice says.

“What?” I whisper.

_ Put your hand into the shimmer… _

I look at my left hand, and I say, “Well, you’re useless usually, so…” and I put it into the shimmer.  It tingles when I was touching the actual shimmer, but wherever my hand ended up, it’s warmer there than it is here.  I start to feel around as far as I can, and suddenly another person grabs my hand. The person’s hand is as cold as death.  I pull my hand out as fast as I can, and I grab my left hand with my right. I rub my left palm with my right thumb.

_ I won’t hurt you,  _ the voice says,  _ just help me…please.  _ The voice sounds desperate now. I’m surprised that I’m the only one who can hear it.

“Okay,” I say, “I trust you,”.  I put my hand back into the shimmer, and the same icy-cold hand grabs me. I put my other hand in, and they grab that too.

_ Now, pull, _ the voice says.

I pull with all of my might, and I barely get my hands back out, and almost skeletal hands are holding mine. The strangest thing, though, is that there are holes in the middle of each hand.  “I need some help!” I yell to Sans and Papyrus.

Sans comes up to me, and I think that he’s going to grab my shoulders to help pull, but he grabs my waist. I flinch, but he keeps hold.

We pull together, and it gets a bit easier, but, whoever it was, is still on the other side of the shimmer.

“C’mon! Paps! Help!” Sans yells.

I feel someone else pull, and I glance back to see Papyrus holding onto Sans’s shoulders, helping us pull.

“Alright, all of us need to pull at the same time,” I shout, “I’ll count down from three, then we’ll all pull. Ready?”

Both of them yell affirmatives.

“Three! Two! One! PULL!” I yell and we all pull, walking backward in the snow.

Then, suddenly, there’s a jolt, a loud zapping sound, and all of us stumble backward. I keep my footing, but only because Sans is still holding onto my waist.

I grab his hands and pull them off of me.

_ Thank you,  _ the voice says, clearer than before, but still in my mind,  _ In return, I’ll help you set the time line to rights. _

I look at the person we just pulled from another dimension, and I vaguely recognize him. It might be from other memories that I saw, but I recognize him.  “Gastor?” I ask, “W.D. Gastor?”

The man nods.


	5. ...And Boundaries are Broken.

I stare at the man that I just pulled through a dimensional boundary.  I can’t believe I’m talking to W.D. Gastor.

His face looks like a mask of some sort, with a large smile, lines going from his eyes to the edges of his head, one up and one down. As I said before, his hands has holes in them. He’s wearing a long black cloak. _ Thank you,  _ he says again.

“You’re welcome,” I say, smiling.

“Umm…” Sans says, “Why are you talking to him?”

I look at him like he’s crazy.  “Because he talks to me,” I say, like it’s common knowledge.

I can tell that he has no idea what to say.

_ What happened to this world? _ Gastor says to me.

“Chara,” I say, seething.

Gastor tightens one of his fists, and shudders, probably in anger.  _ He has been a thorn in my side for years. What has he done this time? _

“He’s not supposed to be here!” I exclaim, “and good monsters are paying for it. The Paradox is too much for most monsters to handle, and for some reason, I’m the only one that can restore them,”

_ I have given you that gift,  _ Gastor nods,  _ We have a long history, you and I. But there is not much time for me to tell you. _

“Well, Flowey keeps insisting that I rest,” I say, rubbing my head, which is still pounding, “maybe we should stop to rest somewhere,”

“We could go to our house,” Sans says, walking up behind us.

“Sans!” Papyrus says, “Don’t just invite strangers to come to our house!”

“She saved our lives, Paps,” Sans says, “We kind of owe her…big-time,”

I look at Gaster, and he nods.  “Alright,” I say, “We’ll rest at your house, but only for a little bit. Chara is probably really far ahead of us,”.  I turn around, pick up my backpack, and we all start to walk down the path.

We walk through the rest of the forest in silence, and we walk into a town called Snowden Town.

“It’s quiet,” Papyrus says, “a little too quiet,”

I stop walking, and I listen. All I hear is the faint sound of running water, like a river or something, and…silence. The town feels eerie.

_ Chara’s getting stronger,  _ Gastor says,  _ He’s stopped an entire town in their tracks. _

I look around, and I see people in the streets laying on either their face or on their sides.  As we walk passed the buildings, I nearly trip over a little yellow…something…laying in the snow.

“It’s Monster Kid!” Sans says, as I pick the small monster up and cradle him like a baby.

Monster Kid looks like a little yellow dinosaur, but he doesn’t have any arms.

As I put my left hand on Monster Kid’s forehead, Flowey cries out, “Rose, no!”.  But it’s too late.  My vision floods with visions of posters of a fish monster in a suit of armor called Undyne.  I find images that don’t fit in. Images of Chara. I lock onto one, and I find the memory.

\---

_ I’m walking around in the snow near the Librarby, looking for nice leaves for the wreath I’m making for Undyne.  _ _ “She’s going to love it!” I say to myself.  _ _ I hear rustling down the path. _

_ A human child runs down the path. It’s Frisk! _

_ “Yo!” I say, jumping up and down, “Wanna’ help me find leaves?” _

_ Frisk just runs right by me, not even acknowledging that I’m here. _

_ I run after them, but I fall onto my face. This happens a lot. I pull my face out of the snow, and I stand up.  _ _ “O-okay!” I yell after them, “I’ll catch you later!”.  _ _ I turn around to see Chara. _ _ “Oh, hi!” I say. _

_ “Where did they go?” he asks. _

_ “I don’t know," I say, "Wanna’ help me find leaves?” _

_ He scoffs and pushes by me, and I fall face first into the snow, overcome with memories. _

\---

I release Monster Kid’s head, and he blinks his eyes open.

“Wha…?” he says, groggily, “where am I?”

“It’s okay,” I say to him, “You’re still in Snowden,”

“Oh,” he says, and he cuddles into my shoulder, falling asleep.

“You shouldn’t have done that!” Flowey whines.

“Why not?” I ask.

“You’re pushing yourself too hard,” he says.

I scoff, and we continue our trek to Sans and Papyrus’s house, me still cradling Monster Kid.  We get into their house, and I start to make a small pillow-nest for Monster Kid, when Sans walks up to me.

“You can put him in Frisk’s room,” he says, “Just ‘till we move again. Then you can leave him with Alphys,”

“Oh!” I say, following Sans to a door at the end of the second floor hallway, “Speaking of which, I should call her,”.  We go into Frisk’s room, and I place Monster Kid under the covers of their bed.  After I leave the room, I get out my phone and I call Alphys. The phone rings more than I feel comfortable. Then Alphys picks up.

“Oh! R-rose! Help!” Alphys says.

“What’s wrong?” I say.

“Chara’s outside the lab. W-we’re holding our own f-for now, but he’ll find a way in, I don’t doubt that,”

I curse under my breath, and I pace around the hall a little bit.  “We’ll be there as soon as we can,” I say, “Who’s ‘we’?”

“Undyne, Mettaton, Frisk, and me,” Alphys says.

“Alright, we’ll be there as soon as we can,”

“Okay,” Alphys says, and she hangs up.

I put my phone away. I decide to go find everyone else, but as soon as I turn around, Sans is right behind me, scowling at me.  “What?” I say, shrugging.

“Flowey’s right,” he says, “You’re pushin’ yourself too hard. What happened to resting?”

I shake my head.  “You just don’t get it,” I say, “I made a promise. I promised Toriel that I would save both the Underground and Frisk, no matter what it takes,” 

Sans steps back a little, apparently respecting me wanting to keep my promise.

_ But first,  _ Gaster says, who is suddenly standing behind Sans,  _ I promised to tell you about our history. _

I consider wasting any more time, but I rationalize that Monster Kid is still asleep.  “Okay,” I say, and I follow Gaster down stairs.  I sit on the couch, and he sits next to me. He looks at me like an old man looking at a picture of his high school sweetheart.

_ My, how you’ve grown,  _ he says.

“What do you mean?” I ask, “How do you know me?”

Gaster sighs, and he slumps forward a little bit.  _ It’s a long story,  _ he says,  _ I suppose I should start before the Barrier actually went up.  _ He turns to me and places his hand on the side of my face, his thumb on my forehead.  _ Just relax _ , he says,  _ I’m transmitting a memory to you. _

I close my eyes, and a picture fades into view.


	6. Gastor's Memory...

_ I’m walking along a path on the side of a mountain, thinking about what will happen if the human revolts escalate.  _ _ Will King Asgore Sr. find us a good place to stay, or will we perish?  _ _ That’s probably why he sent me sightseeing. He wants to find a good place to rally to, if it ever comes to a war.  _ _ I hope his son, Asgore Jr., will be as good of a king, even if he’s only five.  _ _ Suddenly, I hear a high-pitched noise from the top of the mountain. I jump at first, since it sounds like nails on a chalkboard. I rush up to the top of the mountain to investigate, and I see the source of the sound. _

_ It’s a small figure squirming in a cloth that’s hanging from a low tree-branch. It’s wailing at the top of its tiny lungs. It has short, wispy, black hair, and a red and purple pinstripe onesie.  _ _ It’s me! It’s me as a baby! I’m probably looking at this from Gastor’s perspective. _

_ I walk up to the cloth and take it off of the branch. I cradle the infant version of me, and I stroke it’s tummy to calm it down. I note that my hands are Gaster's hands, just…without the holes. _

_ It stops wailing, and it looks at me curiously. It grabs my skeletal finger and puts it in its mouth, making happy gurgling sounds. _

_ “See, I’m not so bad, aren’t I?” I coo, in a soft, smooth, medium toned voice that has a slight accent. That must be what Gaster's voice was, before he fell into the CORE. _

_ The child just keeps looking at me, wondering what in the world I am. _

_ I smile at it, and I grab the cloth. I wrap the child back up in it, and I turn around. I walk back down the path I came from. _ _ "You’d be a good playmate for Sans and Papyrus,” I say, imagining two skeleton children. _

_ There’s a slight flash as the memory skips forward in time a little. _

_ I walk into a metal shack by the edge of the woods. It’s filled with scientific instruments and other things of the like. I walk through this room, holding the child in the crook of my arm in a position like she’s sitting. _

**_I need to pull you out soon,_ ** _ I hear Gaster say in my mind,  _ **_you’ll lose yourself in the memory if I don’t._ **

**_I can do it,_ ** _ I think back,  _ **_Show me until you can’t show me anything else._ **

_ The memory continues. _

_ I walk through a door on the other side of the room, and into an area that looks more like a house. This place is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside!  _ _ “Dada!” I hear coming from a little room branching out from the main area.  _ _ It’s a little skeleton, probably a year older than the baby in my arm, wearing a red and white striped onesie. _

_ “Hey, Paps,” I say, kneeling down in front of him. _

_ He rushes up to me, a panicked look on his face. He jumps and hugs my chest, burying his face into my cloak. _

_ “Papyrus!” I hear someone yell from the room that baby Papyrus ran from. _

_ A small child…er…skeleton, probably three years old, comes barreling around the corner, but skids to a stop when he sees me.  _ _ It’s Sans! He’s wearing the same thing that he always wears, but his shirt is black and white striped.  _ _ Apparently Gastor is their father. That would make sense, since they are held together by magic. _

_ “What happened, Sans,” I say, sternly, standing up. I pick up Papyrus as I do, holding him like the other baby. _

_ Sans looks at his feet. _

_ “Answer me, young man!” I say. _

_ He holds out his hand, and a tiny version of a Gastor Blaster appears above it. _

_ I gasp, and nearly drop both of the infants.  _ _ I walk over to a couch, set them down nicely, and I turn and crouch at the same time, so I’m eye level with Sans.  _ _ “And how did you discover you could do this?” I ask. _

_ “I got angry at Paps,” Sans mumbles. _

_ I furrow my brows. _ _ “And why did you get angry at him?” I ask. _

_ He grabs my hand, and he tows me into the room he and Papyrus shares. He stands in the middle of the room and points at a pile of glass on the floor. _

_ “He broke your snowglobe?” I ask.  _ _ I walk back out into the room and I look at Papyrus.  _ _ “Paps,” I say, “Come here,” _

_ He drops off of the couch, waves to the other baby, and toddles over to me. _

_ I point to the glass on the floor. _ _ “Did you do that?” I ask, kindly. _

_ He nods, sadly. _

_ “Why?” _

_ “It was acident,” he says, putting his hands up, bony palms to the ceiling. _

_ I turn around, and I look at Sans. _ _ “What happened?” I ask. _

_ “He was bouncing that ball off of the wall,” he points to a red bouncy ball, “and it bounced too high. It hit my snowglobe off of the shelf, and it smashed against the bedpost,” _

_ I can’t help but feel proud. Sans is three years old, and he can speak like a ten year old. And now he can do magic. Proud father moment.  _ _ I kneel down in front of Papyrus.  _ _ "You know what I said to you,” I say, never losing my cool, “Don’t bounce the ball in the house, okay? And this is why. You can break things, and people get sad or angry,” _

_ Papyrus hangs his head, and says, “I sorry, brudder,” _

_ Sans sighs, and says, “It’s okay, Paps. I’m sorry I scared you,” _

_ Papyrus runs up to Sans, and they hug. _

_ “Anyway,” I say, “I have a surprise for you two. Papyrus has already met her, but I’d like to formally introduce her,” _

_ Papyrus gasps and hops up and down in excitement. _

_ We all walk out into the other room, and the infant is sitting up on the couch looking around. She sees me and she makes a happy noise. _

_ I sit down on the couch next to her, and I lift up Papyrus and Sans onto the couch. _ _ “This is your new sister,” I say. _

_ Sans looks at her curiously, and then looks at me. _ _ “But…she’s human,” Sans says. _

_ “Does that matter?” I say, “But now, when I leave you guys alone, I’ll need to hire a babysitter,” _

_ “What’s her name?” Sans asks. _

_ “Oh! Oh! Waddabout…Rose,” Papyrus says. _

_ “Hmm…” I say, “How about Rosaline. Rose, for short,” _

_ The picture fades out, and another light flashes.  _ _ I snap back to reality. _


	7. Reality...

I sit up, and I’m on the floor. I look around at all of the worried faces looking at me.  “Why did you stop?” I ask.

_ Because,  _ Gaster says, _ I can explain the rest without losing you in a memory coma. _

I stand up and sit next to Gaster.

_ You lived with us until the War with humans started,  _ Gastor says,  _ then, when the barrier was put up, I gave you to an orphanage. I told the owner of the orphanage to give you a believable backstory, and a normal childhood. _

“I remember,” I say, voice filled with anger and sadness, “His name was Milo, and he was a really nice man. He told me my parents died in the War, but I never guessed that they  _ abandoned _ me as an infant,”

_ It wasn’t your fault,  _ Gastor says, and he puts his hand on my shoulder,  _ Some people just can’t take care of children, but that doesn’t give them the excuse of leaving you on the top of a mountain. _

I sit on the couch, and I stare at the ground. I feel my eyes fill to the brim with tears, threatening to overflow.

Gastor wraps one of his arms around my shoulders.

I cover my face with my hands, and let the tears flow. No sobbing. No noise. Just the flow of sadness.

Gastor pats my shoulder, and stands up. He walks out to the kitchen, and Sans walks over to me.

“What all did he show you?” Sans asks.

“Just how we know each other,” I say, “Now that he showed me, the memories are coming back,”

Sans nods.  “How  _ do _ you know each other?” he asks, placing his hand on mine.

“He adopted me…sort of,” I say.

Sans pauses.  “So, that means…” he starts.

“…we’re brother and sister,” I say.

Sans stands up, and paces around a bit, his hands behind his head. He then kneels down, and face-plants into the ground.

I stifle laughter.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“I’m trying to bleach my mind,” Sans says as he bangs his head off of the ground.

“Is Sans having a mental breakdown?” Papyrus asks as he walks in, followed by Gastor, who’s followed by Monster Kid.

“I told him that we’re brother and sister,” I say, and Sans lets out a long, depressed, moan.

“Wait…” Papyrus says, “that means… _ you’re MY sister as well!! I have a sister!”.  _ He tackles me, giving his “Nyeh-heh-heh!” laugh, and hugs me tightly. It’s slightly crushing, but surprisingly warm and comfortable. I hug him back, glad to have some actual family to turn to.

_ And as for why you can manipulate timelines,  _ Gastor says,  _ I suppose exposing a small child of your age to monsters for that long sort of…mutated you a bit. _

“So…that’s why I can bring other monsters out of the past?” I ask, “And why Sans is immune to the reset?”

_ I wouldn’t exactly say immune, but, yes, that’s why. _

“Sans,” Papyrus says, sitting on the couch next to me, “Why were you so distressed at the news of Rose being our sister?”

Sans, who’s now sitting up, tries to hide his head in his hood.

Flowey giggles slightly, and says, “I know why,”

Everyone looks at him.

“Because he had a crush on her,” Flowey says, “until that news, and realized that it would be considered incest! Even if you aren’t biologically related…”

I look at Sans, and I swear I could see him blush.

“Yeah, Daisy-Head?” Sans shouts, “Well I know that you  _ still _ have a crush on her, that’s why you’re so worried about her!”

Flowey recoils, face contorted in embarrassment and faked confusion.  “I-I have n-no idea w-what you’re talking about,” Flowey stutters.

I smile and shake my head. Am I seriously being fought over by a talking flower and a living skeleton?  “Guys,” I say, “It’s sweet of you to think of me, but I’d rather get rid of Chara  _ first _ , and then worry about my love life,”

This shuts them up quick, Sans muttering, “Yes, ‘mam,”.

_ So,  _ Gaster says, putting a hand on my shoulder,  _ where to next? _

“Alphys’ lab," I say, "She needs our help,”

Sans nods, and we all stand up.

“Yo!” Monster Kid says, “I’m coming with you!”

“Alright,” I say, kneeling down to him, “but you’re going to stay at Alphys’ after we help, okay?”

“Alright,” they say, “as long as I can say I helped save Undyne!”

I grab my backpack, that Flowey was still attached to, and we all walk out of the door, Gaster more…floating through the wall.

Sans then grabs my shoulder.  “There’s a ferry boat,” he says, “It’d be faster than walking,”

“Alright,” I say, “let’s take that,”

We all get to the ferry boat and there’s a cloaked person manning it.  “Where to?” the Ferry-person says.

“Hotland,” Sans says.

“Alrighty,” they reply.

We’re in Hotland in less than a minute.

As we approach the Lab, I’m sweating from the heat, and wearing all of this winter clothes.  I stop for a second, put my backpack on the ground, and take Flowey off of it. I take off my scarf and gloves, stuff them in the backpack, and take my jacket off, but tie it around my waist.  “That’s better,” I say.  I turn to Froggit and Flowey and take the hats off their heads. I also take Froggit’s scarf, and stuff all of the warm things in my backpack. I then put Flowey back on my pack, and put it on.  “Alright, let’s go,” I say.


	8. ...And Bonds are made

I walk up the small incline that leads to the main road, and instantly hear the loud, metallic banging noises coming from my right.  I turn to see the child that everyone has been attacked by:  _ Chara _ .  “Yo!” I yell, grabbing a nearby pipe (for felfs-stesfance…) and holding it like a bat, “Devil Child! Why don’t you pick on someone your own species!”

Chara turns around, and I see that the tar has oozed further down his face.  “But, I am,” he says, in a voice that sounds like it’s echoing from the past, present and future, “You see, like you, I’m a monster by default,”.  He then smiles in the most horrible way, and sprints at me, knife in the air, poised to strike.  But he’s not aiming at me. He’s aiming for Sans.

I drop the pipe, and rush to get in front of Sans. I raise my arms in front of my face, crossing them, waiting for Chara to cut me, or even kill me.  But he doesn’t make it to me. I hear him hit something hard, and fall to the ground.  I look up, and see a wall of large, white and turquoise bones separating him from us, stretching from wall to wall.

“No Fair!” I can hear him yell, “You didn’t tell me you could do that! I was so close to getting Comedian, too!,”

Sans starts to laugh.  “Try getting through  _ that _ without movin’” he yells back.

I stare at my hands, which seem thinner to me, and look a bit like Gastor’s. They are glowing slightly turquoise as well.

Sans turns towards me, and I notice that he looks at my right eye.  “Woah,” I hear him mutter, “so that’s what my eye looks like…probably,”

I raise an eyebrow.  “What do you mean?” I ask.  I put my backpack down, and take out a mirror. I look at myself, and my right eye is glowing turquoise. I touch my lower eyelid, as the light fades away, but I can still slightly see it.

“How did you do that?” Sans asks me.

“I don’t know,” I say, “I just didn’t want you to be killed, so I put myself between you and Chara,”

“Speaking of which,” Sans says, “how are we going to get to Alphys’ Lab with ugly in the way?”

“I heard that!” We hear Chara yell.

I shrug.

Flowey is still on the ground where I left him after searching my backpack.  “I’ve got an idea…” he mutters.

I look at him. He’s staring at the wall of bones.  I kneel down in front of him.  “What?” I ask.

“Put your hand on my head, and close your eyes,” he says.

I comply, and as soon as I do, there’s a flash of light, and I’m standing where he was. I fall onto my butt as my head pounds and my vision blurs.  “Ugh…” I mutter, “What was that?”.  I listen to my own voice, and it’s scratchier and higher than usual. I sound like I inhaled a small bit of helium while I had a real bad cold.  My vision clears, and I look down at my feet. I see something strange. My legs are…green. They look like many vines tightly twisted together. They’re covered in tiny thorns.  I stand up, and find my mirror again.  My face…it’s somewhere between human, skeleton, goat, and a flower.  “Wha…what happened?” I ask, and look at Gastor.

_ He…he triggered a human-monster fusion,  _ he says in amazement,  _ but I have no idea how. He shouldn’t have that power! He’s just a talking flower! _

I look down at my hands, and I think, in my voice  _ Why? _

_ Because,  _ Flowey’s voice thinks back,  _ you need to get over that wall, and keep Chara contained. I can help. _

I nod.  I thrust my hand at the cave wall, and a vine shoots from the palm of my hand. I get pulled toward the wall as the vine retracts, and I jump to get to the wall quicker.  I stand slightly sideways against the wall, peering over the wall of bones.

“Well!” Chara yells, “I never thought you had it in you, Flowey! Fusing with a human!”

“At least I asked first!” I yell back, in Flowey’s tone.

I drop from the wall, and stand right in front of him, and cross my arms.

He chuckles.

I raise another wall, no less than four inches behind Chara.  I smile at him, and use a vine to get back over the first wall.

“No fair!” He yells after me.

I make bridges of vines across the area between the bone walls. I then use vines to make a ladder down both sides of the walls.  I climb down the ladder on the side where all of my friends are, and stand in front of Gastor.  Another flash of light, and I’m sitting on the ground, holding Flowey in his bowl on my lap.

Flowey falls over in a faint, head resting at the base of his stem in the dirt of his bowl.

I’m breathing heavy, and I’m sweating. But, despite being a bit discombobulated, I start to laugh.

“What?” Sans asks, “What’s so funny?”

I continue to laugh, and it fades into giggles. I giggle so much it starts to hurt.  “That…was…awesome!” I say.  I stand up, and as I look down at my legs, I notice that I look more…skeletal.  “What’s going on?” I ask Gastor, finally done giggling, “Why am I turning into a skeleton?”

Gastor hangs his head.  _ I should have explained as soon as you made the bones appear,  _ he says,  _ It’s sort of a…side-effect from being adopted by monsters. You can do magic, the same kind as Sans and Papyrus. The physical changes come with it. _

I nod, still staring at my hands, as they slowly but surely become solid bones. I take out my mirror again, and I see that I look like a sugar skull, but my hair is still there.  “Well,” I say, “We made a bridge. Let’s go see Alphys,”

Papyrus is the first to try the ladder, after he picked up Monster Kid and put him on his shoulders.  “NEXT!!” We hear him yell from the other side, after he finished crossing.

I put Flowey back onto my bag. I stand up, and see Sans already making his way up the ladder.  I climb up next, followed by Gastor, who just needs to float. Is he like a phantom, or something?  As I cross the bridge, I look down at Chara. 

He’s laying on his back, staring up at me, smiling. It’s…unsettling.

I climb down the other side, and stare at the strange group I’ve been traveling with. I smile at them.  I walk to the large front doors of the lab in front of me. I lightly knock on the door.  “Alphys?” I yell, “It’s okay. You can open the door,”.  I hear the scraping of furniture, and the door opens slightly.

“R-Rose?” Alphys asks, “B-b-but you’re n-not human! You’re…”

“…a skeleton, I know,” I finish for her, “It’s kind of weird for me too,”

She opens the door more, and we all enter Alphys’ Lab.

As Gaster enters, though, I hear a slight squeak of fear from Alphys.  _ Tell her that I’m not here to hurt anyone, _ Gaster says to me,  _ I can’t bear being stared at like a dangerous animal. _

“Gaster would like to ask you not to treat him like he’s dangerous,” I say to Alphys, which catches her off-guard, “He’s not here to hurt anyone,”

“B-but he d-didn’t say anything…” Alphys says.

“He did to me,” I answer, “I’m the only one that can hear him,”

“Anyway,” I hear a gruff, female voice say, “what are we going to do with the demon out there?”

I turn around to see the fish-woman that was on Monster Kid’s posters. 

She’s not wearing armor, though. She’s just wearing a black tank-top, jeans, and red boots. She’s holding a blue, glowing spear.

“I don’t think we need to worry about that much,” Flowey says.

I turn my head to see him looking out the door. I turn around to see a hole in the ground on our side, and see Chara running away in the distance.  “Goddammit!” I yell, “How?!”.  I then feel someone tug on my shorts.  I look down to see the other human child, Frisk.

Their eyes are still shut, and there’s a fresh bandage on their left cheek. They are making digging motions with their hands.

“He dug his way out?” I ask.

They nod.

“Damn,” I say, “they must be made of steel!”

“Pardon me, darling,” another voice says. It sounds synthesized.  “I’m the only one in the Underground made of steel,” they say.

I turn around to see a robot that looks like it’s straight out of an anime. 

They have black hair with a long fringe that seems to cover their right eye, pale "skin" and visible metal segments below and above their left eye. They have a pink chest piece, a narrow metallic waist with a box contraption, and black shoulder guards above his segmented arms, which end in gloves. The chest piece has what appears to be a speaker and some knob or gauge, while the waist has two parts that seem to act as a locking mechanism that holds a "heart-shaped core,". Their long, black-clad legs end in pink, high-heeled boots.

“Oh, uh…my mistake,” I say, feeling a bit awkward.

“It was just an expression, Mettaton,” Alphys says.

Mettaton scoffs, and turns away.

_ What are we going to do now? _ Gaster asks, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I sigh, and hang my head.  “I…I don’t know,” I say, “I thought that once we caught him, it would be easier,”

“Yeah, but now he escaped,” Undyne growls, “They could be making their way through the Core by now!”

As soon as Undyne says “Core”, Gaster’s grip gets a bit tighter.  I look at him, and he seems on edge, although his expression doesn’t change.

“Well,” Sans says, “We’ll just have to follow him. Mettaton, Undyne, Kid, come with us. Monster Kid, stay here with Alphys,”

“Okay!” Monster Kid says. They then go over to Alphys, and sit down at her feet.  Alphys looks down at them, and slightly smiles while blushing.

I walk over to Sans, breaking out of Gaster’s grip.  “So,” I say, “How do you expect to defeat him?”

Sans pauses.  “I actually haven’t thought of that,” Sans says, “but…we have some of the strongest monsters in the Underground,”

“Yeah, and one of us is basically a phantom,” I say, nodding to Gaster, “We need to find a way to make him corporeal, so he can fight with us,”

Sans turns around, and stares at Gaster for a minute.  “Why don’t you ask him what to do?” he says.

I turn to Gaster, and he tries to look anywhere except at me. “Gaster,” I say.

He still doesn’t look at me, like he doesn’t want to be part of this conversation.

“Dad,” I say, standing right in front of him.

He looks at me, surprised.  _ Did…  _ he says,  _ did you just…call me… ”Dad”? _

I nod. “What else would I call you?” I ask.

He tilts his head from side to side, like he hadn’t thought of that.

“Could you help me?” I ask, “We need to know how to make you corporeal, so you can help us save the Underground. Please, Dad,”

He stares at me, and sighs.  _ I…I know a way, _ he says,  _ but you’re not going to like it. I could…I could fuse our souls, and I’ll fight with you. You’ll have a combination of mine and your powers, and you’ll be more powerful. But…there’s a catch… _

I pause. “What is it?” I ask quietly.

_ It would be permanent, _ he says,  _ There would be no way to reverse the fusion. I would become part of you… _

“We can find a different solution,” I say, “We can find a different monster, or we can…we can do something with Determination. I’m sure Alphys can figure something out. We…we need you. Papyrus, Sans, and I…we need you…”

Sans walks up behind me. “What did he suggest?”

“He…” I mutter, “he suggested a permanent soul fusion…between him and me. We’d become one monster, and…there would no longer be a difference between Rose and W. D. Gastor. We’d be the same…”

Sans sighs. “If we can’t find any other choice…I’d say that would be our greatest chance…”

I sigh, and turn to Alphys. “Would there be any alternative to what I just described?”

She shifts from foot to foot, looking around. “Um…I-I…I d-don’t think s-s-so. I’m sorry,”

I sigh again. “Then we have no choice,” I say, looking at my feet, “Dad? How do we go about a permanent fusion?”

He sighs and looks at me.  _ Follow me, _ he says, floating toward a door,  _ the things we need should be back here. _

I nod, and follow him. Alphys follows me, and Sans and Papyrus follows her. We all walk into the True Lab.


End file.
